UC Snippet #14

Good snippet.

It would have been a great snippet if it had included a shower scene.

SYED wrote:The question is will only the command ship be destroyed before that snippet occurs or will it be muliple ships.

Twenty-eight warheads may be excessive for one battlecruiser, but it's not enough for two.
(And the upcoming snippet speaks of "tak[ing them] out, one-by-one".)

The CMs had launched ballistic, with their drives shut down, relying solely on the initial velocity imparted by the powerful mag drivers of Arngrim’s launch tubes. That was barely fifteen hundred meters per second, a very low velocity by the standards of missiles and counter-missiles, but they’d also been launched beginning the better part of an hour ago, in intervals along Arngrim’s track as she continued to put space between herself and the rest of the squadron’s launch point. Even at their arthritic pace, the closest of them was 5,300 kilometers from the ship, ...

Is there an error here?
1500 m/s times an hour = 5400 km.
So even the furthest may not have reached 5300 km.

Bill Woods wrote:

The CMs had launched ballistic, with their drives shut down, relying solely on the initial velocity imparted by the powerful mag drivers of Arngrim’s launch tubes. That was barely fifteen hundred meters per second, a very low velocity by the standards of missiles and counter-missiles, but they’d also been launched beginning the better part of an hour ago, in intervals along Arngrim’s track as she continued to put space between herself and the rest of the squadron’s launch point. Even at their arthritic pace, the closest of them was 5,300 kilometers from the ship, ...

Is there an error here?
1500 m/s times an hour = 5400 km.

Not that I can tell. The better part of an hour does not equal exactly one hour. Maybe 45 to 55 minutes? The 5,300 km refers to the missiles closest to the ship, not the average distance or the furthest. Also, is Arngrim accelerating with a low powered wedge under stealth? That would increase the distance from the ship to the missiles, especially the ones launched first (the ones furthest from the ship).

The CMs had launched ballistic, with their drives shut down, relying solely on the initial velocity imparted by the powerful mag drivers of Arngrim’s launch tubes. That was barely fifteen hundred meters per second, a very low velocity by the standards of missiles and counter-missiles, but they’d also been launched beginning the better part of an hour ago, in intervals along Arngrim’s track as she continued to put space between herself and the rest of the squadron’s launch point. Even at their arthritic pace, the closest of them was 5,300 kilometers from the ship, ...

Vince wrote:

Bill Woods wrote: Is there an error here?
1500 m/s times an hour = 5400 km.

Not that I can tell. The better part of an hour does not equal exactly one hour. Maybe 45 to 55 minutes? The 5,300 km refers to the missiles closest to the ship, not the average distance or the furthest.

Right, but the ones launched earliest are the furthest; the closest are those launched last. Ten minutes before, or whatever. (Which would put them about 1000 km away.)

Also, is Arngrim accelerating with a low powered wedge under stealth? That would increase the distance from the ship to the missiles, especially the ones launched first (the ones furthest from the ship).

That could do it, if the ship is accelerating away from the Sollies. Which would not be an unreasonable thing to do.

I'm too lazy to do the maths, but when missiles are sent from a very long range with a ballistic component, wouldn't the targets benefit from changing course at maximum acceleration? I realise that they will still be attacked, but it may complicate the final aiming.

Read the part after your bolding carefully. It explains it.

Bill Woods wrote:

The CMs had launched ballistic, with their drives shut down, relying solely on the initial velocity imparted by the powerful mag drivers of Arngrim’s launch tubes. That was barely fifteen hundred meters per second, a very low velocity by the standards of missiles and counter-missiles, but they’d also been launched beginning the better part of an hour ago, in intervals along Arngrim’s track as she continued to put space between herself and the rest of the squadron’s launch point. Even at their arthritic pace, the closest of them was 5,300 kilometers from the ship, ...

8 Is there an error here?
1500 m/s times an hour = 5400 km.

[quote=Vince]Not that I can tell. The better part of an hour does not equal exactly one hour. Maybe 45 to 55 minutes? The 5,300 km refers to the missiles closest to the ship, not the average distance or the furthest.

Also, is Arngrim accelerating with a low powered wedge under stealth? That would increase the distance from the ship to the missiles, especially the ones launched first (the ones furthest from the ship).

That could do it, if the ship is accelerating away from the Sollies. Which would not be an unreasonable thing to do.[/quote]

Daryl wrote:I'm too lazy to do the maths, but when missiles are sent from a very long range with a ballistic component, wouldn't the targets benefit from changing course at maximum acceleration? I realise that they will still be attacked, but it may complicate the final aiming.

In theory, yes.

That was what the Fifth fleet CoS did in BoM phase 3.

Assume a 5 degree field of view. Which is 0.09 radians. At 10 million KM a 18,000 KM wide object has an angular diameter of 0.1 radians. (That's just a number, not sure what David uses.)

Now the problem is that ships are not invisible. So if they can see you move they won't be fooled. However the guy running the missiles doesn't want you to decoy them into thinking you moved too. So there is some sort of balance there.

Presumably if you do the sudden move trick you shut down your radar and lidar and hope the grav sensors on the missiles can't put together what you are doing with your impellers.

At some point the missiles will expect to see you, so if they don't they will start to search. That's when LACS get blown up by MDMs.

Daryl wrote:I'm too lazy to do the maths, but when missiles are sent from a very long range with a ballistic component, wouldn't the targets benefit from changing course at maximum acceleration? I realise that they will still be attacked, but it may complicate the final aiming.

Silly Australian. That is why you have MDMs that activate a drive with terminal guidance after the ballistic phase.

The tactic might work if the duration of the ballistic phase is great enough.

Thanks to you both. I was lazy and speculative, not silly. Just that as space is 3D, a sudden change up or down or sideways might complicate attack angles.

TFLYTSNBN wrote:

Daryl wrote:I'm too lazy to do the maths, but when missiles are sent from a very long range with a ballistic component, wouldn't the targets benefit from changing course at maximum acceleration? I realise that they will still be attacked, but it may complicate the final aiming.

Silly Australian. That is why you have MDMs that activate a drive with terminal guidance after the ballistic phase.

The tactic might work if the duration of the ballistic phase is great enough.